"Stress is inevitable in life in life and how we approach it will flavour our experience."Jill Bolte- Taylor

In the MBSR course, I teach we begin by using a 16th-century definition of the word stress. ​ "The sore pressure or strain of adversity, trouble, hunger, sickness, pain, or sorrow; anguish or affliction affecting the body, spirit, or community."

I like this definition for many reasons. It honours this phenomenon of stress, elevating it to distress. We often fob off the experience of

I've just spent 4 days on a mindfulness retreat, recharging my internal batteries. A new participant asked the teacher a great question. She said, "sometimes you tell us we should slow down our breath to bring about a state of relaxation and at other times you tell us just to notice it and not change it. So which is right, changing the breath or letting it be?"

Author

Tienne Simons is a therapist and the founder of HeadRest Mindfulness training. She did her training in MBSR when she became convinced that the program was not only a useful add on to therapy for many but sometimes a more appropriate way to support people than counselling. She has had a mindfulness practice for about 30 years- well nearly!